I really wanted to build one in full hull and Flyhawk finally offers one. It will be build up to keep company to my Trumpeter HMS Hood in 1941 fit. So 1941 May rather than the December Flyhawk offers. Think we can do this.

The kit is pretty detailed, with lots of parts. I will review it as I go.

So far I can make the following observations:

1) Plastic is soft and thin, not like Tamiya2) Details are excellent3) PE and resin add ons are extensive and should build into a great ship4) Hull halves joining is the usual pain in the neck... 5) instructions are fairly clear 6) There is now stand for the ship (im supposed to build one?!)

Painting instructions tell us how 507a and 507b should look in Tamiya paints, which is new. I am going with the same Tamiya XF66 I used on Hood to show her wearing 507b at the time of Bismarck action.

So I started with the hull. It fits great when you put it together, but try gluing it and you have issues. It moves a lot, its quite thin. So I you gotta tape it off together tightly and put super thin glue and hope it binds.

I did this but still some seams visible and some joints werent perfect. I guess it wasnt as straight as I hoped, and I believe thin plastic is the reason. On a plus side, the deck just falls into it perfectly. I will add it later, after hull has been weathered but still lots to go before we get to that phase.

So here I am fixing the joints...

Attachments:

File comment: Here is how it sits out of the box25039055_2007930039450986_6378813440072351744_n.jpg [ 36.52 KiB | Viewed 899 times ]

I have already gloss coated it since this pic, and will start weathering it properly with washes and salt streaks and whatnot. Then Ill also take care of some of the blemishes that stand out too much on the boot topping and some other areas. After that will give it a 9:1 diluted mist coat of oranges and greens and browns on the lower hull and in overall gray on the upper hull just to blend things together. I really wanna get that layered look on the boot topping where there is many whitish streaks on the black part and blackish streaks on the red antifouling part, without overdoing it of course, so will see how much masking tape will be used up in the process.

I really wanted to build one in full hull and Flyhawk finally offers one. It will be build up to keep company to my Trumpeter HMS Hood in 1941 fit. So 1941 May rather than the December Flyhawk offers. Think we can do this.

The kit is pretty detailed, with lots of parts. I will review it as I go.

So far I can make the following observations:

1) Plastic is soft and thin, not like Tamiya2) Details are excellent3) PE and resin add ons are extensive and should build into a great ship4) Hull halves joining is the usual pain in the neck... 5) instructions are fairly clear 6) There is now stand for the ship (im supposed to build one?!)

Painting instructions tell us how 507a and 507b should look in Tamiya paints, which is new. I am going with the same Tamiya XF66 I used on Hood to show her wearing 507b at the time of Bismarck action.

To do list will be to buiild up 3 UP launchers and less radars.

507B was not in use at time of Bismarck action. By implication of the order to entirely suspend enamel use in 1940, 507B was discontinued as of the same date.

507B was not in use at time of Bismarck action. By implication of the order to entirely suspend enamel use in 1940, 507B was discontinued as of the same date.

If you detach yourself from "507B" for a sec and look at the pic I posted, does that color look wrong to you? I mean Hood Association says that Hood was 507B, based on wreck and photos, and PoW pics indicate it was some medium gray similar to Hood, etc. So im going with some medium gray, call it whatever you want.

Can you post a color chip of what PoW was painted during Bismarck action? And Tamiya alternative?

507B was not in use at time of Bismarck action. By implication of the order to entirely suspend enamel use in 1940, 507B was discontinued as of the same date.

If you detach yourself from "507B" for a sec and look at the pic I posted, does that color look wrong to you? I mean Hood Association says that Hood was 507B, based on wreck and photos, and PoW pics indicate it was some medium gray similar to Hood, etc. So im going with some medium gray, call it whatever you want.

Can you post a color chip of what PoW was painted during Bismarck action? And Tamiya alternative?

This should clear up the matter of confused nomenclature of Dark Grey, Home Fleet Shade. It also contains numerous colour renders showing how they compare. I can't help with Tamiya however because I don't own many and indeed it would be contrary to my own interests to do so even if I could because I make paint to sell. It seems a good idea to make our research conclusions available for free because it improves awareness and reduces confusion on what isn't in truth a particularly complicated subject - it has just been made confusing by incorrect information in circulation which failed to reconcile well with other types of reference material such as the Admiralty's original documentation, photographs, cine film reels etc.

I will contact Frank Allen at the Hood Association and help if I can. They've been trying to keep the site up to date off the back of tid-bits posted here and perhaps elsewhere over the past year or two but like everyone they have been victims of a few decades' worth of confusion caused by the incorrect assertion that 507A, 507B and 507C were three distinct shades. The website used to list 507A and 507B as separate shades as has been the widely understood situation until very recently. I have a personal theory on where that error originates, but will not go in to writing on that to avoid potential for litigation. Published works on Royal Navy WW2 camouflage written in the 1970s (e.g. by Peter Hodges) were better and contained fewer verifiable errors than some written more recently.

This here https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/pages/royal-navy-colours-of-world-war-two-c-a-f-o-1112-camouflage-of-sea-going-ships-june-1942 is the first known reference to a "medium grey" and even the wording used here (written carefully as is the British armed forces way) leaves no room for interpretation. From 1936 to 1941 the Home Fleet used "Dark Grey, Home Fleet Shade" sometimes simply called "Dark Grey" or "Home Fleet Grey". In parallel with this, ships on foreign stations used "Light Grey", sometimes called "Foreign Stations Grey" or "Mediterranean Grey". If there was a medium grey in existence, the Admiralty and DTSD were unaware of it. The context of this unnamed medium grey is also clear. It is expressly for use in emergency camouflage where there isn't time to obtain or apply a proper pattern design in the correct paints. This emergency option is republished again in CB.3098 which introduced the simplified and rationalised camouflage paints system of G5, G10, B15, G20, B30, G45 and B55 in May 1943, then again in 1945. The possibility of a who capital ship being painted in a medium grey is something which could be debated. I feel that's unlikely.

At any rate, 507A and 507B were identical save that 507B had 10 pints of Pattern 11 enamel paint (itself the colour of Dark Grey, Home Fleet Shade) added per hundred weight. Enamel use was ordered to be discontinued in 1940 for war economies, but it is possible that at least some ships had their existing 507B over-painted with 507A or civilian manufactured matt paint of equivalent shade to reduce reflections and glare associated with somewhat shiny 507B which are undesirable traits in war time.

Does that help? As far as your model goes, you're probably still in the right ball-park shade wise and I am not saying you need to repaint anything. You'll see from the renders in the first linked doc above that the real appearance of Home Fleet Grey was somewhere between Snyder & Short's 507A (which is too dark) and 507B (which is too light). As a ship commissioned in 1941 many months after the Admiralty ordered the end of enamel use (although using up stocks was ok) it's almost certain that HMS Prince of Wales left to intercept Bismarck wearing a dockyard formula matt paint of Dark Grey, Home Fleet Shade.

Also - the Flyhawk kit looks superb. I might get one for my wife who is enjoying 1/700. I am excited about their forthcoming 1/350 kit of same subject

Does that help? As far as your model goes, you're probably still in the right ball-park shade wise and I am not saying you need to repaint anything. You'll see from the renders in the first linked doc above that the real appearance of Home Fleet Grey was somewhere between Snyder & Short's 507A (which is too dark) and 507B (which is too light). As a ship commissioned in 1941 many months after the Admiralty ordered the end of enamel use (although using up stocks was ok) it's almost certain that HMS Prince of Wales left to intercept Bismarck wearing a dockyard formula matt paint of Dark Grey, Home Fleet Shade.

Also - the Flyhawk kit looks superb. I might get one for my wife who is enjoying 1/700. I am excited about their forthcoming 1/350 kit of same subject

Top post mate. Thanks! Happy to hear Im in the ballpark, thats good. The weathering and washes tend to darken the ship, my Hood looks darker than PoW at this point, due to that. So thats great, as I gather my paint could go a little darker rather than lighter.

At any rate, I think if HMS Hood Association with your help granted, get the matter sorted, and few nice vector graphics put up of each ship in correct shades in different career points it would be massively helpful to modellers. And remove wrong stuff might I add, as the wrong stuff is pulluting a little now.

And on topic of PoW / the thing is super well made but also very very detailed. Should be fun to build but all the extras it carries I find a little daunting!